Takeaways from day six of the Paul Manafort trial

08 August, 2018, 20:29 | Author: Clarence Schmidt

Manafort's lawyer suggested that the affair - which included a London pad, first-class plane trips and luxury hotels - cost up to $3 million.

Rick Gates, the former business partner of Paul Manafort, testified Tuesday that he helped Manafort hide payments from offshore accounts. He told jurors how he disguised millions of dollars in foreign income as loans in order to lower Manafort's tax bill.

Prosecutors summoned Gates to give jurors the first-hand account of a co-conspirator they say helped Manafort carry out an elaborate offshore tax-evasion and bank fraud scheme.

In one email, Manafort wrote "WTF" and "not happy" about tax payments he was going to have to make, Gates said.

On Tuesday, Gates was forced to answer questions about past infidelity, his embezzlement and what Manafort had directed him to do while in his employment.

Gate's testimony was part of the prosecution's effort to prove that Manafort was responsible for financial maneuverings that he and other witnesses have testified include filing false tax returns, defrauding banks in borrowing against real estate, and failing to report foreign bank accounts. Gates also fabricated a forgiveness letter for what he said was already a fake loan between Manafort's consulting company and a Cypriot entity he controlled.

In another heated exchange, Downing tried to press Gates into explicitly saying that he had embezzled money from Manafort. He agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI.

Gates walked into a packed courtroom a day after he calmly acknowledged having embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort and said the two had committed crimes together by stashing money in foreign bank accounts and falsifying bank loan documents.

He is the first subject of special counsel Robert S. Mueller's investigation to stand trial.

Prosecutors had intentionally left many of these pieces of evidence blank on an itemized list of documents they are presenting in court, signaling they could be the most sensational and attention-grabbing files in the evidence binder. "Mr. Manafort had the same path".

Gates, who testified Monday and returned to the witness stand Tuesday, detailed years of alleged lawbreaking at Manafort's political firm and admitted to stealing money from secret overseas bank accounts.

Manafort was chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and his longtime deputy was part of the campaign, too.

Gates testified that he'd followed Manafort's instructions as they set up Cypriot and other foreign bank accounts, moved money from Ukrainians into the United States, made sure Manafort's name was scrubbed from the accounts, then lied to the IRS and banks. Gates said the money he took was sent to his account in the United Kingdom and was never disclosed to his accountants or the USA government. Gates said that these loans were actually income.

Update from the Paul Manafort trial: Rick Gates admitted... everything in testimony yesterday. Manafort business partner Rick Gates testified Tuesday that it was Weissmann who confronted him about a lie he had told special counsel investigators, and it was Weissmann who told him he would have to admit to that lie in an additional charge to keep his plea deal with the special counsel's office alive.

Gates' voice remained steady and calm throughout his roughy six hours of testimony Tuesday.

In October 2016, for instance, Gates sent Manafort DMP's profit and loss statement (P&L) from January 1 through June 30 of that year, emails introduced in court Tuesday show.

A spokesman for the special counsel's declined to comment.

Prosecutor Greg Andres had objected to the defense using the affair against Gates, saying the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled "that if somebody cheats on their wife or whatever, it's not necessarily indicative of truthfulness".

Worldwide sanctions were lifted under the pact between world powers and Tehran in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. According to Pompeo, the restoration of sanctions against Iran is an important pillar in U.S. policy.

The basketball star recently opened an I Promise School for low income and at-risk kids in OH , inspired by his own upbringing. But the best laugh was reserved for the man who conducted the LeBron interview, suffering the worst of Trump's Twitter jab.

Trump has steadily attacked his attorney general for recusing himself from the Russian Federation probe in March 2017. The White House denied that Trump was actually directing his attorney general to end the "ridiculous" investigation.

The 30-second ad focuses on Trump's endorsement of DeSantis and makes light of how DeSantis believes in Trump's core promises. Trump claimed that Americans must present voter ID for "everything" other than voting, the Associated Press reported.

The video shows salon employees striking one woman with a broomstick until she's able to flee out the front door. Things got physical when employees blocked the women from leaving the store while waiting for police to arrive.

An all-out trade war could overshadow Trump's otherwise solid economic record of low unemployment and stimulus-fuelled growth. China's finance authority released new sets of tariffs on 5,207 good imported from the US , ranging from 5 to 25 percent.

The USTR is reviewing 10% tariffs on a further $200 billion in Chinese imports, and is even considering raising the rate to 25%. China has already retaliated with duties of its own, and has pledged to match the USA dollar for dollar with new tariffs.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report . "But I can't say too much". He was asked if he was hinting at the player recruitment at the club, to which he said: "Everything".

On Tuesday Yemen's Houthi group said, it was unilaterally halting attacks in the Red Sea for two weeks to support peace efforts. One woman at the protest said: "All the world knows what happens in Yemen and no country did anything for Yemen - didn't help".

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